


2 Weeks

by neonjellyfish



Category: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Genre: Fluff, Humor, M/M, Road Trips, ok let's see where this leads to, road trip au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-20
Updated: 2015-09-23
Packaged: 2018-04-22 12:23:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4835207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neonjellyfish/pseuds/neonjellyfish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Going on a road trip may either be Kaworu's best idea or absolutely worst. Shinji's leaning toward worst.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Idea

“Shinji.”

Shinji slowly opened his eyes to scarlet eyes and a smiling face above his.

“How did you get in?” He muttered as he slowly sat up from his sleeping position on his carpet.

“The door was unlocked.”

“Mm.” Shinji blinked sleepily. He turned his attention to the alarm clock on his desk and read 11:43 P.M.

“You should really start locking your doors Shinji-kun. What if it wasn’t me who walked in?” Kaworu said with what Shinji assumed to be a slight scowl. As if Kaworu could seriously scold Shinji. His apartment complex was moderately safe and you could only be let in if you were buzzed in. _He probably called the cat lady upstairs to let him in again._ According to Kaworu, he and the cat lady were very good acquaintances and from time to time had conversations about similar interests – that being about cats.

“Mm.” Sleep began to fade away and Shinji’s mind began to clear. “Why are you even here?”

Kaworu’s smile widened and his eyes practically sparkled and Shinji felt a wave of fear come over him. _Oh no._ That was the I-have-a-fantastic-idea-Shinji-kun! look. The last time Shinji went along with one of his “fantastic ideas” Shinji ended up hanging off a bridge holding onto an old man for dear life. The poor man had dropped his cane in the lake and Shinji had to wait for two hours while the lake patrol fished it out. Shinji wasn’t willing to go through that again.

“Wait no never mind. I don’t want to know.” Shinji blurted out and quickly went back to laying on the floor with his back to Kaworu.

“What? Why not?” Shinji answered by turning his head and shooting a glare in Kaworu’s direction. Shinji could almost feel the other boy's sulking face stare into his back. After about 5 minutes passed, Kaworu seemed to catch on to what Shinji was thinking and there was a rustling of clothes as Kaworu knelt down next to Shinji. Shinji was surprised he didn’t jump when Kaworu leaned down and whispered in Shinji’s ear.

“I promise this idea won’t be like last years.” Shinji felt a blush creep up his face, whether it was from their close proximity or the embarrassment of the memory, he didn’t know and decided he was better off not knowing.

“Gee that’s reassuring.”

“I promise it isn’t.” Kaworu continued to whisper in a soft voice. Shinji groaned inwardly. Kaworu never had any problem convincing people to go along with something. With the way Kaworu spoke, how could they not? He had a way to make everyone feel secure and at ease at the biggest prospects. He could ask someone to eat 5 pounds of raw cookie dough and that person would probably think “Hey that’s not such a bad idea.”

Shinji sighed and sat up and looked at Kaworu warily. _Let’s get this over with._

“Ok what is it?”

Kaworu perked up at that. He got up and shuffled through his discarded messenger bag on the floor and crawled over back to Shinji, shoving a large folded piece of paper in his face.

Shinji blinked and took the paper out of his hands. He began to unfold the paper to reveal a map. There were pen marks everywhere and indecipherable symbols in what Shinji could only imagine Kaworu created.

“What is this?”

“It’s a map.”

“Yes I see that. But why.”

Kaworu positioned himself to sit crossed legged and clasped his hands together. _Oh boy._

“Well Shinji, I was watching that show about that man who travels to different places and eats a lot of food. Ahh what's his name... Dude Fire? ”

“You mean Guy Fieri?”

“Yes Shinji! Him! Well anyways I thought how much fulfillment he must get from exploring the world and trying new food – I mean he has a look of joy on his face every episode and I thought it would be nice to do that too.” There was a pause.

“So Shinji I was wondering if you would like to travel across the state with me.”

Shinji looked at Kaworu and wondered how this could possibly be a better idea than last year. _Traveling across the state? How could he think I would want to go?_ Shinji was possibly the most introverted, awkward, pessimistic person he knew. Why would Kaworu want to spend that much time with Shinji anyways?

Shinji was ready to reject Kaworu with a flat out no but stopped himself short. Kaworu looked so hopeful, his red eyes shined with excited anticipation and his shoulders were stiff, waiting for Shinji's response. Shinji felt ashamed of himself. How could he say no to Kaworu, he was his friend and probably the nicest person in the world. He continued to look at Kaworu's smiling face and knew he couldn't bare to watch it fall because of him. Even if he were to say no, he knew Kaworu would be nothing but understanding. _He puts up with your shit way more than any other person should._ Shinji thought, leading him to think of a question.

“Why would you want to go with me?”

“Um – well…” Kaworu’s mouth twisted into shy little grin and a slight blush fell on his pale cheeks.

“Because Shinji is my best friend and I wouldn't wan't to spend a trip like this with anyone other than you.”

Shinji wanted to scream. _How does he say that with such a sincere tone?_ Shinji's face heated up and he cast his eyes downwards to avoid eye contact at all costs. Kaworu was quiet for a moment before he began.

“We’d be borrowing my brother’s old car.” Kaworu started. “He doesn’t mind if we use it, I already asked.”

When Shinji didn’t respond Kaworu continued.

“You don’t need to worry about the expenses, I’ve been saving up money for something like this for a while.”

Kaworu stopped talking, allowing the dark haired boy to think it over. Shinji pondered all of this in his head with worries and questions racketing back and forth in his head. He ceased his train of thought and drew in a deep breath. He knew he had his answer. _How does he do this to me?_ Shinji twisted his body in order to fully face Kaworu.

“Ok.”

Kaworu’s face slowly formed into an expression of glee and he looked as though he would fling himself on top of Shinji but restrained himself to only grasping Shinji’s hands in between his own.

“Thank you Shinji! You don’t know how happy this makes me!”

“Mmhm y-yea.” Shinji muttered nervously. _What have I gotten myself into?_

 

* * *

 

 

They made plans to leave on a Monday and to return within two weeks. The past couple of weeks consisted of planning out stops and sight-seeing on the map, shopping for food and other basic necessities, and coordinating on who would be driving. Shinji had gotten his license mostly out of necessity when he was a teenager and had to drive twenty minutes to school, but after moving to the city for college he found it was almost impossible to drive or park anywhere and just decided to sell his car. Kaworu was the more exprienced driver, having to drive almost everyday through the city, and suggested he drive for most of the time. Shinji automatically felt guilty and insisted he drive at least half of the time and promised he still remembered the basic laws of driving. The week passed by quickly and the Sunday before they were supposed to leave, Shinji spent the night at Kaworu’s house.

Shinji and Kaworu laid in silence on Kaworu’s bed. The light smell of the pizza they ordered still lingered and sound of the fan standing by the bed filled the room. Shinji stared up at the ceiling, playing out the possibilities of what the next two weeks were to bring in his head.

“Shinji are you awake still?”

“Yes.” A soft giggle came from Shinji's left.

“You should be asleep. We’re leaving early in the morning, remember?”

“You’re the one who's driving first, why aren’t _you_ asleep?”

“I’m thinking.”

“About what?”

“Our trip.”

“Mm.”

A comfortable silence enveloped them and Shinji felt his eyes begin to droop.

“Hey Shinji?”

“Hmm.” Shinji hummed with eyes now fully closed.

“It really means a lot to me that you’re coming on this trip with me.”

“Mmm.”

“Are you going to sleep now Shinji-kun?”

Shinji made some sort of sound of confirmation before he felt sleep completely take over.

Kaworu looked on and smiled.

“Sweet dreams, Shinji.”


	2. Day 1

Shinji woke by to find that the space next to him empty. He flopped his hand down on the slightly creased side and found that it was cold. _He must have gotten up a while ago._ He turned his head to the alarm clock beside the bed to find it was 7:38. He lazily sat up, rubbing the sleep away from his eyes. He watched as sunlight filtered in through the window and sighed. _Alright here we go, first day._

Shinji swung his legs to the side of the bed and padded to the other side of the room where his shoes were. As he began tying his shoes, the door creaked open.

“Good morning, Shinji! How did you sleep?” Kaworu beamed as he walked into the room. How Kaworu consistently had an energetic attitude in the mornings, Shinji would never know.

“Uh, yea good morning. Fine I guess.” Shinji answered after finishing tying his shoes. “When did you get up?”

“Hmm around six thirty!” He chirped. Kaworu was brimming with excitement. All Shinji could do was stare as the other boy walked around the room happily cleaning up trash from the night before, humming to himself.

“Ah Shinji, would you like some breakfast before we go? I have some cereal out on the kitchen counter.” Kaworu said, stuffing a pizza box with used napkins and paper plates. Shinji observed the scarlet eyed boy for a little while longer before he stood up and walked to the kitchen.

He prepared his cereal and sat over on one of the stools by the counter. _Too sweet._ He thought as he chewed on another bite of… whatever it was he was eating. Why couldn’t Kaworu just get the regular brand instead of insisting buying cereal from the foreign food market down the street? _The world may never know._

It wasn’t long before Kaworu came in carrying the stack of trash and walking outside to toss it out. He strode inside and stopped to lean on the counter across from Shinji.

Propping his elbows on the counter, Kaworu leaned forward and asked, “Do you have everything ready, Shinji?”

Still chewing on his last bite of cereal, Shinji simply nodded his head. The corner of Kaworu’s eyes crinkled from the smile he gave and Shinji could’ve sworn he looked like some divine entity with the way a warm glow seemed to surround him. Or was it just the light coming from the window behind him?

“Good! We can leave once you’re ready, Shinji.” He said, leaning back and promptly walking out the front door to get the car started.

Shinji once again had to remind himself that it was only two weeks and he was supposed to have _fun._ It’s not that Shinji didn’t want to go, but he had never been on a trip for more than week. _It’ll be a learning experience I suppose._ Shinji sighed and went to wash his bowl and put everything away. He grabbed his backpack and phone and walked out the way Kaworu left.

 

* * *

 

 

They left the house at around eight o’clock and had no trouble getting out of the city. For the majority of the car ride they tried listening to different radio stations before turning the radio off when they realized that they would be hearing nothing but static for a while. Shinji looked out the window letting his mind go blank, watching the scenery around them. Kaworu for the most part was quiet, occasionally humming a song that Shinji couldn’t recall. After about four hours on the road, they stopped for a bathroom break and Shinji discovered the wonders of public facilities out in the middle of nowhere. They were back on the road when Kaworu informed Shinji that there was a diner not too far where they could sit down and eat.

Forty minutes passed and they had arrived at the diner. The place was… quaint. No scratch that, it was _weird._ There were taxidermies of bears in just about every corner and their artificial eyes seemed to be looking into Shinji’s very being. Shinji inched away and not-so-subtly hid behind Kaworu.

“Welcome, boys.” An older woman said with a raspy voice. Shinji jumped as Kaworu calmly turned his head to the woman. The woman was much shorter than both of them and wore a flannel shirt with an apron. Her face was stern and hard and just one look could tell you she had seen things that would make Shinji leap over a table and sprint out the back door. A shiver went up his spine.

“Hello.” Kaworu replied.

“You can sit wherever you like, I’ll bring your menus out in a minute.” She said and briskly turned away leaving Shinji and Kaworu alone again.

“Let’s sit in that table over there, Shinji.”

“O-okay.”

They sat down and the woman came back, placing their menus in front of them.

“Can I get you two anything to drink?”

“Hmm do you have any lemonade?” Kaworu asked, giving the woman a light grin.

“We do.”

“Do you have pink lemonade?”

“No.” The woman replied, her mouth frowning just a bit more.

“Ah what a shame. Then I’ll just have lemonade. What about you, Shinji?” 

“Oh um I’ll just have water.” Shinji uttered and the woman walked away without so much as an “ok”.

Kaworu looked in the direction the woman left, then looked a Shinji with sharp eyes.

“Wha-what is it?” Shinji stammered out.

“This place is _strange_.”

_What part? The stuffed life-sized bears? Our waitress? The cold, dead look in her eyes?_

“Uh… yeah it kinda, is isn’t?” Shinji settled for saying.

“Mhm.” Kaworu hummed, taking a scope of the diner. “They don’t even have any pink lemonade.” His eyebrows creased.

_That’s what’s strange to you?!_ Shinji was just about to voice this when the woman came back with their drinks.

“Do you know what you want?” Her voice came.

Shinji swiped his eyes over the items on the menu and decided on a grilled cheese sandwich while Kaworu asked for soup.

Ten minutes later they had their meal ready and began to eat. Shinji’s sandwich was surprisingly better than he expected. But then again you couldn’t really go wrong with a grilled cheese. They both had finished their meals and the woman came back asking of either of them wanted dessert. Kaworu immediately said yes and Shinji asked where the restroom was.

Shinji walked towards a dark hall and wandered through until he found the words “RESTROOM” in big letter on a…sheet of toilet paper. _Ok._ He pushed open the door to relieve himself. As he was washing his hands he heard a rustling of some sort near him. He scanned the area only to find a hairy demon shuffling through the trashcan right next to him.

He let out a blood curdling shriek akin to the noise a goat makes when it realizes a fatal mistake made scaling a mountain. He stumbled out the door, running out the hall and climbing on the nearest table.

“Shinji, what’s wrong?” Kaworu questioned, worry etched in his voice. Shinji looked over to see several pies in front of him. _Why does he have so many pies? Wait that’s not important._

“There’s some – thing in the restroom!” He shouted at Kaworu.

“That’s not a thing, that’s just the raccoon. He likes to hangout back there sometimes.” The woman stated as if that was the most obvious thing in the world. _Don’t you think you should warn people about that BEFORE they almost have a heart attack?!_

“Don’t worry he don’t do nothing. You got nothing to be scared about, boy.” She gave Shinji a stern look, “Get off my table.”

Shinji quickly slid off and sputtered out something sounding like an apology before going to sit back at his table. His breathing had slowed down but he was not ready to relax so easily. _Not with knowing that thing is here._

“Are you alright, Shinji?” Kaworu prodded. Shinji finally looked over to his friend and took in the scene. There were four – no five pies in front of him and Kaworu had already begun digging into one of them. Ignoring his question entirely, Shinji took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled.

“Why do you have so many pies, Kaworu?”

“There were too many flavors to choose from.”

“Ah.”

There was silence for a moment before Kaworu _so graciously_ offered some of his pie.

Shinji declined.

 

* * *

 

Kaworu had managed to eat a total of three pies. _Three._ Shinji had mostly gawked at him for the duration amount of time before he decided to put a stop to it. They paid for their food and Kaworu asked for take home boxes for his remaining pies.

Their next destination was a little town that held the world record for most magnets produced. This time it was Shinji driving.

Their radio held out longer than it had before but ultimately became static noise after about half an hour. Kaworu then declared he wasn’t feeling well and Shinji had _barely_ made it to the side of the road before Kaworu got sick. They drove the rest of the way with no problem. _Thank god._

Once they finally got to the town they found a vacant motel and paid for their room. Shinji and Kaworu dragged their luggage up the stairs to room… 217. The room was a double and looked like any regular motel room. _Everything looks normal. Hopefully there won’t be any more surprises today._ Shinji turned towards Kaworu who was inspecting the room.

“Do you feel better?” Shinji inquired. Kaworu lifted his head and gave an ever so cheerful smile.

“Yes I do! I felt better immediately after I… let everything out,” He shrugged. “I guess it’s not such a good idea to eat so many pies in such a short amount of time.”

_Yeah no kidding._ Shinji kept this comment to himself though. He looked towards the beds and at the red and purple ninety’s pattern it bestowed.

“Which bed do you want?” Shinji asked looking back at Kaworu.

“Mmm I’ll take this one.” The other boy replied, falling back on to the bed near the window.

Shinji made his way over to the other bed and gingerly sat down. It was still relatively early so Shinji suggested they go see the town.

Kaworu and Shinji made their way out of the motel and into the little town. Not surprisingly there were many gift shops that sold nothing but magnets and Kaworu and a grand time looking through every single one of them. Shinji found a couple of magnets that stood out but nothing worth spending his money on.

“Hey Shinji, look!” Shinji turned his head towards Kaworu to find him holding up what appearing to be two cartoon cats.

“It’s you and me!” Kaworu beamed. Shinji looked closer to find the cats, one black and one white, huddled next to each other and tails intertwining to form a heart, with the words “Purr-fect Friends” at the bottom.

Shinji quickly span around, staring at the magnets before him to hide his burning red face. _What the hell. Why does he always do these kind of things? What does he get out of this? Why is he have to act so cute?_ Wait _cute?_ Did he just think that? _I need to go outside and get some fresh air._ He looked back once more to find Kaworu at the register purchasing the magnet. _There’s no way he doesn’t know what he’s doing._ After he finished he made his way back to Shinji.

“Ready to go, Shinji?” He said with a smile. _That innocent smile can’t hide who you really are._

“Yeah, sure.”

They went to a little restaurant and had dinner. Fortunately, nothing exciting happened again and Shinji did an inner victory cheer as they left the restaurant unscathed.

Back at the motel Shinji and Kaworu got ready to call it a night. In their beds Shinji contemplated the day and the how scratchy the sheets were. He frowned at nothing and continued staring into the darkness.

“Hey, Shinji?”

“Hm?”

“I had a lot of fun today.” _Fun._ In a weird way, so did Shinji.

“Me too.” It was quite after that and Shinji had figured Kaworu fell asleep. He looked over to see moonlight peeking through the curtains onto Kaworu’s milky skin. He watched the rise and fall of his chest and thought _He really does look beautiful._ He allowed his blush to come freely, his only solace being that it was unseen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for those of you that left kudos and left feedback!! It really means a lot and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first story on AO3 and I would absolutely love it if you let me know what you think or if you have any constructive criticism! I'll try to update whenever I can (we'll see where that goes) thanks for reading! :)


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